Notes from Planning trip Feb. 11-15 Johannesburg and Capetown, South Africa Julia Thompson (Univ. of Pittsburgh, South. Univ. Ill. Edwardsville) (notes by jat, trip taken together with Jeremy Dodd, Columbia Univ.) (roughly checked by Case Risdijk for gross factual errors) In order to solidify plans for physics demonstrations and hands-on outreach trip to South Africa in summer, 2002, Dr. Jeremy Dodd (jd) of Columbia University and Julia Thompson of the University of Pittsburgh and Southern Univ. of Illinois Edwardsville, travelled to Johannesburg and Capetown February 11-16, 2002, meeting with educators there to assess which activities would be most helpful. A summary of our thinking at the end of our trip, encapsulated in a note from Case Rijsdijk to heads of EMDC's in the Western Cape province, is included as a separate note. In the body of this note, I include a chronological summary of discussions in which I was involved in Capetown. I. Thursday, Feb. 14. We started this day with a meeting with Case Rijsdijk at the S. Af. Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) and Dr Patricia Whitelock, deputy directory of the Observatory, and President of the S. African Institute of Physics. We continued with meetings with physical science curriculum advisors, then to COSAT for the afternoon. Individual meetings are described below. Case Rijsdijk. In 1998, the SA government ok'd the building of SALT, an 11m telescope. It is expected to be finished in 2004, with science in 2005. In 1998, they had a "year of technology", partly wrt the plans for the telescope. Had a van, the STARBUS, packed with stuff, heavily weighted toward astronomy, which went around. The van is still there, but no longer stuffed or packed due to a lack of funds. At that time they worked heavily with primary schools, and are now trying to target teachers. In February 2001 a new collaboration STARTEC (STate of the ARt Telescope Educational Collaboration) was formed with observatories around the world. Now they are working with teacher visitorships (1-2 weeks), which emphasize astronomy as a vehicle for science education and not astronmy education. Wisconsin, eg, may be a partner in some of their visitorships. (All still in the planning stage). Patricia Whitelock. Dep. Director, SAAO (where Case is based), and Pres., South African Institute of Physics (SAIP) paw@sao.ac.za. Interested in the project. Mentioned Diane Grayson, person from Gauteng who works on physics teacher training (graysdj@unisa.ac.za), especially with distance learning. There is a post graduate student doing PhD on science support for the townships, and there are useful contacts with students in Univ. of Cape Town with these interests. In particular, Nceba Mathalo, a young black Ph.D student, works with such projects. Last year the head of the National Society of Black Physicists, Charles MacGruder (U. Western Kentucky) visited very profitably, and generated interest. Charles Brown, the current president, is expected to visit this year. Curriculum Advisors: Mentioned Active Science, grades 11,12: activ@physci.uct.ac.za. Present: Jenny Ulster EMDC North. jenny.ulster.wcape.school.za Trevor Daniels west coast/winelands -> Paarl. trevberndaniels@hotmail.com Celeste Issel (Breederiver/Overburg) (Worcester) cissel@pawc.gov.za Edwin Schroeder (Breeder/Overb) (Worcester, mathematics) eschroed@pawc.gov.za Akeda Isaacs EMDC central. tnwakeda@mweb.co.za (sp?) In addition to the above mentioned districts, there are south and east central, and the region from Karoo/Southern Cape, to George, about 5 hrs away.) A recent policy document at national level, makes practical work compulsory, and they are eager to improve the level of the practical work which is done. They have used kits similar to but not exactly the same as the Edutrade kits. Suggested that perhaps the van would go to the centers, not to individual schools, and the students would be filling out sheets which could be used for continuous assessment. There was emphasis that the experiments should have some links to the curriculum to be most effective. Bertram (who had visited Hampton last summer) noted that he had once tried something similar at Paarl, no one came (when classes were supposed to come). So planning is important. Michelle November, one of the teachers who visited SIUE last summer, was also at this meeting. In order to make teachers more receptive to the program, it was suggested that Case fax a description of our plans to the EMDC directors as well as to the curriculum advisors. Case will also fax a description to Jennie Haral-Smith, the overall curriculum director for the province? Plans were made to visit a class at Fezeka high school in Khayelitsha the next day. The physics teacher there, Khalifa is especially effective. Afternoon. COSAT (Centre of Science and Technology) is a school funded by a combination of government and private money. It is linked to the Univ. of Capetown. We met with Jonathan Clark (jclark@mweb.co.za, clagon@cosat.wcape.school.za), and Peter Oxenham (co-directors of the school?), as well as Lunghisa Mavundla, a teacher from COSAT who was at SIUE last summer. Clark and Oxenham described their school: addressing the "new apartheid", with divisions along money lines. Since 1994 there is nominal universal access to pre-college education. But there are high costs (for the school?), mostly going to salaries. There is some government funding for undergrad. science students, but students must pass the physical science matric exam at the "higher grade" level in order to qualify. In the southern suburbs in the Western Cape province, in more affluent regions, class sizes are around 40, and most students pass the matric. exms. In COSAT, there are 126 students in grades 10-12, with no classes larger than 36. Of the first 21 who took the matric exam, all passed, 10 with a full exemption in math and science, and 6 with a partial exemption. One challenge for COSAT now is how big to grow? To take more older students, or to try to push back into earlier grades. They have 8 staff. 140 kids come to a Saturday promotional program. About 105 applied, and 37 were accepted. The school day goes until about 4:30, and they discovered that they need to run a soup kitchen for lunch so that the students will not be hungry. They also have afternoon homework sessions. It is necessary to have the lunch arrangements, since many students come from too far away to go home at lunch time. The average high school charges 200R/year. Here at COSAT they have $KRand/student/year for expenses. They ask for 100R registration fee, and a school fee of R750/year (mostly waived). They get 36KR from the UCT education (?) dept, but most of their money comes from corporate sponsors, who sponsor children on an individual basis. COSAT pays 90KR/year for rent (get water, etc free), and 120kR/year for the soup kitchen. They aim to accept about 50/year, and to grow to about 150. They are considering adding a residential component. COSAT is one of 102 designated "focus" schools nationwide. One of COSAT's services is to inventory equipment in their region, so that it could be shared. Maybe it would be reasonable to use the FOCUS schools as a "focus" of our effort.? Rockland is the focus school in Mitchell's Plains. Notes: teacher training here includes an "inset" year... one year postgraduate (inservice) training. Walker was heavily influenced by Hewitts "Conceptual Physics", and hopes to use it. Notes on experimental hands-on work in the class room: The system gives only lip service to hands on work. Outcome based education now ends at grade 9, and educators would like to extend it to the higher grades. Would be good to get experience with graphs, etc. They were a little reserved about the effectiveness of RADMAST in Johannesburg. They said that some schools would have Edutrade kits, or their equivalent, frequently components might be lost. It might be difficult to get teachers to actually participate in the hands on activities. They noted that the commercial "Century City" has a similar science "exploratorium", with questions to answer as one walks around. They have a young staff and are not solid financially. Don Francis is a chief education specialist in some organization called "Planning for Success?". Students choose their subject area the end of the year in Grade 9, so it is desirable for there to be motivation before then. There will be a Science Fair (some kind of extravaganza, with booths by companies and schools? not the US science fair?) in August. Perhaps we could coordinate with them? Walker suggests practical work with grades 9 and 10. Energy, electricity, force, and pressure in grade 9, and electricity and light in grade 10. If the equipment stayed, then teachers could do further experiments later. Friday, Feb. 15, 2002. Visit to Fezeka HS in Khayelitsha, the class of Khalifa. The students, a physical science class, were using a (hanging) demonstration of force balancing. The class were attentive and lively. Kalifa discussed how she tried to persuade them to stay in the higher grade curriculum until the last moment, since it is easier to opt out than in. She has one student now doing chemical engineering. Case Riisdijk helped her with plugging some of the large gaps which needed to be filled. The school has about 1600 students in grades 8-12. There is steady attrition: about 200 grade 12 students, with 60 in physical scinece (others either commerce or history). 20 at least starting in the higher grade curriculum. Last year 87% passed overall for the school. In science more than 75% passed, and it has been in the 75-82% range since Khalifa came. last year one student got an A, the highest grade on the matric exam. Students in the higher grade are usually successful if they do the curriculum. Last year there was 1c, 1d, both passed. Last year 18 passed straight, and 5 were converted to an effective pass, but at the lower grade. (some exams in the same subject area are clumped together if they are within a few points of passing. In grade 11, Khalifa has all students try the higher grade, grading in such a way as to encourage them to continue. Then in grade 12, they must finally choose. Some differences are: vectors use perpendicular components in the standard grade, and vectors at angles to the orthogonal axes in the higher grade. F=ma is done in the standard grade, and the third law is included in the higher grade. The standard andhigher grades are taught in mixed classes, with th higher grade students having extra afternoon classes. There were about the students in the 11th grade class we visited, and 18-20 in her other classes. There are about 9 science and math teachers (7 teach math, 7 teach science). Most students have electricity in their homes, and there is water and electricity in the school. There is about 1 book/student, but the matrics may not return their books. They are considering a deposit, but that would be a hardship for many studetns. School fees are about R150/year. Visited the Western Cape Education Dept. EMDC: south metropole inauguration ceremony. Met again my friend Glen van Harte, who is now the curriculum administrator at this new EMDC. He was the master of ceremonies for the dedication which was impressive, including a welcome from circuit manager Ms. Zan Rhoxo, drumming by the Johnny Blundell et al. drumming workshop, a message of support from the chief director of Metropole EMDC's (Mr. N. Mitri), Mr. B. O'Connel, president of the Univ. of the Western Cape, the Cafda School of Dance (from one of the local schools; they had won an award in a previous year); talks from Walter Robinson (Head of Administration of hte EMDC), Mrs. Berenice Daniels, specialized learner educational support; and Eugene Daniels, director of he EMDC. We reminded ourselves of Sau Bono (I see you, or hello) and the response: Secono (I am here). The talks touched on the fact that only about 10% of graduates get formal sector employment, that their learning center had purchased about 10,000 books, and that the twin scourges of AIDS (including households headed by children) and unemployment needed to be combatted. After the inspirational speeches, there ws an inspirational song from the recent local musical "Can you hear the footsteps", written by Mr. Ian Murray, a principal of one of the nearby Klipfontein primary school. His daughter, Tracy Murray Martinesen had written the music for the musical and sang what was apparently a theme song: South Africa, Arise and be the people of choice. It was extremely beautiful and moving, and only wish I had managed to buy the promised CD. The whole thing was wrapped up by a vote of thanks from Mr. Johan Kotze, of institutional management. All the staff had worked furiously to get things ready on time and were very proud. We finished with the national anthem, all the stanzas. After an announcement that Mr. B. Connel (you will recall he was the inspirational president of the Univ. of the Western Cape who had pushed the EMDC's and educational reform generally) in his rush to get to his next meeting had smashed up another car, but was terribly sorry and would pay the damages, we all picked up our special gifts (picture frames) and went off in special buses to the other end of the hospital grounds on which the EMDC stood, to visit the EMDC cente itself. It was beautiful, and also the reception was beautiful, and this brief description does no justice to the well organized and conceived occasion. I was glad to meet Glen van Harte again, and he even recalled that he owed me a subscription to a S. African kids magazine from my last trip. Also, at the dedication I was fortunate to sit next to Hal and Bettye Walker, who head an organization called the international science discovery and learning center, with divisions in Los Angeles and Capetown and a project called "Permission to Dream". And at the reception, I met Brian Wilson, curriculum advisor(?) at Worcester. Afternoon: Uluntu Center: We were guided to the Uluntu Center in Guguleto by Mzi Manzezulu, Curriculum Advisor Intermediate Phase. phone 021-370-2060, mmanzezulu@pawc.wcape.gov.za. He had previously worked at the Uluntu center. At the Uluntu center we met with Masha Ainslie. They have worked on developing materials for the Outcome Based Education themes: matter and materials; life and living; and energy and change. There was a kit with a penguin skeleton project which could be used in a classroom. There was also a neat story of a penguin which was caught in an oil spill, but she felt that the language in that story was not accessible enough. They do teacher development and development of materials for grades up to grade 7. they were told to quit in 1999, the Cape Town part of the organization raised money to continue and now they work with about 120 township schools. They have a science and industry leadership project which combines math, science, language, and business in 12 schools in the cape. She stressed the importance of putting science ideas in context. She suggested we contact Melanie Stark (melanies@iafrica.com, 021-434-1426), a contact person for the Gateway Discovery Centre. They take poratable displays to schools around SA on bus. There is one bus in each province. Some people think that these interactive displays are too "obvious and simple". It should be noted that most science teachers are not well trained and this must be taken into account when preparing activities. There are a wide spectrum of concepts, many with push-button interactions with the viewers. There is also the MTN ScienCEntre, situated at Century City. Century City is located on the N1 near the city center, on the left going out of the city. (Sable Rd.). Prof. Mike Bruton runs/develops it. There is also the Sci-Fest that runs in March/April each year. This a the premier National Science Festival and is sponsored by SASOL, a local oil company. SASOL SciFest 2002 P.O.B. 304, 6140 Grahamstown (Foundation) scifest@foundation.org.za, http://www.scifest.org.za 046-603-1106. We stopped briefly by the workshop on the grounds, which, when I was there in 1999, was making leather purses and shoes, and assembling stuffed dolls. They were after that closed for 2 years because of mis-management (or, maybe, they started again in 1997? i was not sure that the dates she remembered were consistent with what i remembered. i was definitely there in 1999, and they were definitely doing leather and dolls then.). The receptionist was Ms.Daleen De Klerk, and the workshop is now called Kwa-Nontuthuzelo (sp?) workshop. There is a disability payment of R570/month from the state given to people on disability. The center is licensed for 70 people working, and for these the Uluntu center receives (to pay to the workers) R164/month. They try to pay wages up to about R99 max/week, and the differential comes from sales. workers must be able to use at least one hand. some jobs are weaving and woodworking. they are now making tables with thatched roofs, but about finished with that and are now between contracts. The center is located on the M8, about 2km south of the intersection between M10 and M8. There is a striking (pink?) elephant outside the center. Friday afternoon, Feb. 15. National Accelerator Center now called iThemba LABS Laboratory for Accelerator Based Science, (iThemba which means hope). Here we visited with Chris Theron, in the materials research group. He mentioned the Univ. of Pretoria van in the Gauteng region. Mike Connell heads this project, and would be a good place to start for contacts for collaboration. also that Derek Fish of the Univ. of Zululand had a similar project. At the NAC, there is a coordinator, Ginny Stone (stone@nac.ac.za, now also stone@tlabs.ac.za, since they are changing their name to ithemba (hope) labs). Ginny works on liaison to local science schools and teachers. Ambrose Yarge works with her, doing science support, eg, up to Khayelitsha, and they do tours of the lab. She suggested that their science liaison effort (which included a room to which classes might come for activities) would be a natural place where equipment could be stored and maintained. Ginny expressed an interest in having Ambrose be a second person coming to SIUE to work with us on the preparation of the Cape Town trip. At NAC they have an interest in the lower grades and emphasize that teachers need to be comfortable with the material and any experiments presented. Ambrose uses the Edutrade kit contents with demonstrations, designs expeirments and worksheets, etc. Ginny suggests concentrated work in the rural areas, where less is typically done. She may have paid the visa costs for the teachers from Cape Town last summer. We talked about the desirability of having local decorations/art work for the exploratorium exhibits. Ginny thought she might be able to organize that as part of a project with the schools she works with in the year. She said that there is some cancer treatment research there. Students come to NAC to do some simple experiments. She raised the question about buying the equipment there. Might be cheaper. also might get some donations, since companies are obliged to spend something on training. they have some career stuff, but she cautioned about raising expectations about permanent jobs (with one of the companies). South African kids, probably like all kids, are now specially interested in information technology and business. She thought that a cattle van (mini taxi which might hold 6-8 people) would cost about R800/day. Mentioned also something about a Shadrach-Tuckies bus in Gauteng? On Saturday I visited again with some of the people from COSAT, including Sue Hesse, who had managed Case Rijsdijk's STARBUS during a part of its travels. Also Nicolette Hoffmann who teaches physics at Cape Town HS and her husband Aubrey van Breda, who teaches science at COSAT.